Sygg, Master Cutthroat

Commander / EDH Aikido Tempo Tribal UB (Dimir)

arahain

Creature (30)

• 1x Baleful Strix
• 1x Cavern Harpy
• 1x Dimir Infiltrator
• 1x Glint-Sleeve Siphoner
• 1x Gonti, Lord of Luxury
• 1x Higure, the Still Wind
• 1x Ink-Eyes, Servant of Oni
• 1x Invisible Stalker
• 1x Latchkey Faerie
• 1x Lifebane Zombie
• 1x Liliana's Specter
• 1x Nimble Obstructionist
• 1x Ninja of the Deep Hours
• 1x Okiba-Gang Shinobi
• 1x Oona's Blackguard
• 1x Oona's Prowler
• 1x Pestermite
• 1x Prickly Boggart
• 1x Puppeteer Clique
• 1x Quickling
• 1x Sakashima's Student
• 1x Shadowmage Infiltrator
• 1x Shriekmaw
• 1x Silent-Blade Oni
• 1x Slither Blade
• 1x Spellstutter Sprite
• 1x Surveilling Sprite
• 1x Throat Slitter
• 1x Triton Shorestalker
• 1x Vendilion Clique

Instant (14)

• 1x Counterspell
• 1x Cryptic Command
• 1x Disallow
• 1x Dismember
• 1x Familiar's Ruse
• 1x Go for the Throat
• 1x Memory Plunder
• 1x Negate
• 1x Peel from Reality
• 1x Sudden Spoiling
• 1x Thieves' Fortune
• 1x Ultimate Price
• 1x Undermine
• 1x Vraska's Contempt

Artifact (9)

• 1x Bonesplitter
• 1x Cloak and Dagger
• 1x Dowsing Dagger  ^Flip
• 1x Quietus Spike
• 1x Smuggler's Copter
• 1x Sol Ring
• 1x Sword of Body and Mind
• 1x Sword of Fire and Ice
• 1x Sword of Light and Shadow

Sorcery (7)

• 1x Acquire
• 1x Decree of Pain
• 1x Demonic Tutor
• 1x Knowledge Exploitation
• 1x Notorious Throng
• 1x Sword-Point Diplomacy
• 1x Walk the Plank

Commander (1)

Land (35)

• 1x Arcane Lighthouse
• 1x Choked Estuary
• 1x Command Tower
• 1x Dismal Backwater
• 1x Drowned Catacomb
• 1x Evolving Wilds
• 1x Faerie Conclave
• 12x Island
• 1x Submerged Boneyard
• 1x Sunken Hollow
• 11x Swamp
• 1x Tainted Isle
• 1x Temple of Deceit
• 1x Watery Grave

Enchantment (4)

• 1x Bitterblossom
• 1x Coastal Piracy
• 1x Control Magic
• 1x Dire Undercurrents

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Maybeboard

Creature (15)

• 1x Archaeomancer
• 1x Cadaver Imp
• 1x Clever Impersonator
• 1x Drana, Liberator of Malakir
• 1x Duskmantle Seer
• 1x Glen Elendra Archmage
• 1x Glen Elendra Liege
• 1x Inkfathom Infiltrator
• 1x Nightshade Stinger
• 1x Notion Thief
• 1x Phyrexian Metamorph
• 1x Sepulchral Primordial
• 1x Sower of Temptation
• 1x True-Name Nemesis
• 1x Vela the Night-Clad

Artifact (8)

• 1x Bident of Thassa
• 1x Empyrial Plate
• 1x Mana Crypt
• 1x Scytheclaw
• 1x Sword of Feast and Famine
• 1x Sword of War and Peace
• 1x Talisman of Dominance
• 1x Umezawa's Jitte

Land (4)

• 1x Darkslick Shores
• 1x Darkwater Catacombs
• 1x Secluded Glen
• 1x Sunken Ruins

Sorcery (2)

• 1x Damnation
• 1x Stolen Identity

Enchantment (6)

• 1x Coastal Piracy
• 1x Painful Quandary
• 1x Phyrexian Arena
• 1x Rhystic Study
• 1x Thopter Spy Network
• 1x Treachery

Instant (5)

• 1x Dark Ritual
• 1x Desertion
• 1x Evacuation
• 1x Hero's Downfall
• 1x Pact of Negation

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My Ninja and Rogue themed deck with Sygg, River Cutthroat as Commander.

Rogue Style

The goal of this deck is to be as roguish as possible. This style is present in my creatures, the artwork of some of the cards and the general play-style that focuses around being very hard to catch and always having a trick up my sleeve. This style is very important to me and I do try to include as many cards that support it as possible.

Game Plan

• I want to start attacking my opponents with evasive creatures as soon as possible. These creatures can be used to sneak in ninjas and trigger combat damage effects.
• Since I tend to get my creatures back to my hand when I use a ninjutsu ability, I try to play as many enter the battlefield effects as possible.
• To get more value out of my enter the battlefield effects I play a few additional cards that return my own creatures to my hand (Familiar's Ruse, Quickling or Peel from Reality)
• Several equipments (like Quietus Spike or Sword of Fire and Ice) go well with the evasion abilities of my creatures
• The rest of my cards is focused around removing threats, countering or stealing cards from my opponents

Why Sygg?

Sygg, River Cutthroat is a utility commander that lets me get more value out of the core theme of this deck: attacking with evasive creatures. I don't need Sygg to win games but I can drop him very early and start drawing extra cards. He does not tend to draw too much removal because - unlike many other commanders - he is not capable of killing any opponents or disrupting their game plan. Since he is a rogue he can trigger prowl and if equipped with any of the equipments he can trigger his card draw himself.

Synergies and Interactions

• Evasion + Ninjutsu + ETB. Example: Baleful Strix + Silent-Blade Oni
• ETB + Return to hand. Example: Liliana's Specter + Faerie Impostor
• Evasion + Equipment. Example: Prickly Boggart + Sword of Body and Mind
• Commander + Dealing 3 Damage. Example: Sygg, River Cutthroat + Latchkey Faerie
• Evasive Rogues + Prowl. Example: Pestermite + Knowledge Exploitation
• Cavern Harpy + Dire Undercurrents
• Bitterblossom + Oona's Blackguard

Cards I consider including:

• Smuggler's Copter: This cards has everything I need with low cost, 3 power, evasion and an additional loot effect. Suggested by nighthawk8
• Umezawa's Jitte: This equipment could offer a lot of additional options that are currently missing in this deck. I can gain some extra health, kill (small) creatures, and even win combat against some of the stronger beatsticks if it gets enough counters. Suggested by nighthawk8
• Thieves' Fortune: a very nice and on theme cantrip. I don't run any cantrip at the moment so this might be a good addition to the deck. Suggested by nighthawk8
• Drana, Liberator of Malakir: Supports the aggressive part of this deck. It allows my board to grow dangerous while can sit back and watch. First strike does also have a nice interaction with the ninjas: I can activate ninjutsu after the firstrike damage is dealt but before the normal damage step, so both Drana and the ninja would deal damage! Suggested by nighthawk8
• Phyrexian Arena allows for some consistent draw even when sygg gets removed repeatedly.
• Bident of Thassa can lead to some massive draws because I do often hit with 2-4 creatures. Also redundancy if sygg gets removed.
• Evacuation lets me bounce all creatures on instant speed. Since my creatures are rather cheap I can refill the board faster than most opponents, getting some extra value from ETB triggers.
• True-Name Nemesis is rather expensive at the moment but he would offer exactly what this deck needs: deal 3 damage, unblockable, rogue, hard to remove and only at 3 cmc.
• Desertion could be a very strong card in this deck. The 5 cmc could be a problem again because i don't run a lot of ramp so it would be difficult to keep 5 mana open.
• Pact of Negation would be a real cutthroat card so I'd like to include it.
• Rhystic Study and Painful Quandary sort of do the opposite thing but they might both be very strong for longer and more grindy games - where this deck usually starts to weaken.
• Phyrexian Metamorph and Clever Impersonator are very strong and versatile cards that could clone my opponents win cons.
• Vela the Night-Clad would be very cool. Both effects are strong in this deck but again, 6cmc might be too much.
• Lands. My lands are currently in my Sidisi deck where they are much more needed. I will get some of them a second time though.
• Rogues: Looter il-Kor, Marsh Flitter, Thieving Sprite, Nightshade Stinger, Dewdrop Spy, Knacksaw Clique
• Faeries: Glen Elendra Archmage, Cloud of Faeries, Sower of Temptation

Cards I consider cutting:

• Sudden Spoiling: I love the card but it does not really do enough to be worth the spot at the moment.
• Big Game Hunter has no evasion and only 1/1 body.
• Cloak and Dagger has very nice style and some good synergy with my rogues. Id does not offer any evasion or on damage triggers though so I might have to replace it with an additional sword.
• Gilded Lotus: I haven't decided yet if the late game mana is worth a slot or not. Might replace it with a more early game friendly card.
• Thought Vessel: I rarely get the chance to draw enough cards to profit from this and would rather play a mana artifact that either produces / or comes at a cheaper cost,

Recent replacements

28.6.2017

• Thought Vessel -> Spellstutter Sprite. I almost never need the "no maximum handsize" so I'll rather play an additional creature that also gives me a chance to counter cheap spells.
• Rogue's Passage -> Watery Grave. I never used the active of rogues passage and I usually don't have the mana for it. The colorless mana did slow me down sometimes so I went for more multicolor instead.
• Insidious Will -> Negate. Insidious Will was usually too expensive and I used it as a counter most of the times.
• Dark Ritual -> Thieves' Fortune. While the early acceleration of dark ritual can be nice, it is often a dead card in the mid to late game. I'll try Thieve's fortune instead to play at least one cantrip.
• Gilded Lotus -> Clutch of the Undercity. This hurts a bit but I don't think that I need the extra mana and playing Gilded lotus usually means a dead turn for me, which I can rarely afford. Clutch on the other hand gives me the option to remove enchantments and artifacts, something this deck lacks at the moment. Transmute is also nice.
• Terramorphic Expanse -> Faerie Conclave. Additional Faerie that can equip swords and backstab players if necessary. Replacing expanse because I don't want to make the mana base slower.
• Negate -> Insidious Will
• Royal Assassin -> Vendilion Clique
• Bribery -> Gonti, Lord of Luxury
• Slaughter Pact -> Cryptic Command
• Latch Seeker -> Dimir Infiltrator
• True-Name Nemesis -> Sword of Light and Shadow
• Island -> Sunken Hollow
• Metropolis Sprite -> Glint-Sleeve Siphoner
• Trickbind -> Disallow

Cards I don't play

These cards are not in the deck because I think they are not fun for me or my opponents. I might still consider including them in the future though:

• Bribery feels very lame and boring if I play it. Sometimes it gets answered and some other times I pull out some blightsteel colossus ond turn 4-5 which ends the game in a boring way. I could of course use it to fetch some more fun creatures but I rather leave this card out of the deck rather than include it and use it in a suboptimal way.
• Cyclonic Rift: Would go very well with this deck but come on, it is in pretty much every single blue deck and usually not fun to play against. I do have more fun and rare options and would rather play Evacuation over C-Rift in this deck.
• Random "Goodstuff" cards. This is no goodstuff deck and will never be one. I can usually get enough of the cards that belong into this category with my steal effects.

Advise required

I do love this deck, it is very fun to play and has a good winrate in my playgroup. I do however have a few topics where I would appreciate some input, because the deck will never be truly finished, it is constantly changing!

• Card Draw: I do currently run only a few options for drawing extra cards. This is usually no problem because I can keep Sygg on the board for most of the time, but sometimes it is bound to fail and I run out of cards. I could therefore include several cards that let me draw more cards like Bident of Thassa, Rhystic Study and Phyrexian Arena. Playing more of these cards however will probably reduce the chance to trigger Sygg early in the game or reduce the number of answers I have to threats. I am therefore not sure if they are worth a slot or not. Should I run these cards? And if yes, what should I take out for them?
• Creatures with ETB effects and evasion: I am always looking for more creatures that can fill both roles at the same time. If possible they should have a CMC below 3, and maybe have some roguish artwork or ability. Some examples for perfect creatures in this deck: Vendilion Clique, Lifebane Zombie, Pestermite
• Rogue Style cards: If you know of any cards that have some very cool rogue or assassin themed artworks let me know! I'll consider including them even it they are slightly less effective than a non roguish alternative.

Date added	7 years
Last updated	6 years
Legality	This deck is Commander / EDH legal.
Rarity (main - side)	5 - 0 Mythic Rares 36 - 0 Rares 17 - 0 Uncommons 18 - 0 Commons
Cards	100
Avg. CMC	3.11
Tokens	Faerie Rogue 1/1 B, Plant 0/2 G, Wolf 2/2 G
Folders	Deck I wanna play, Inspiration, Commander, Old Decks